A Tale of Arcane Space: Lost & Found

She reached up, and with a giant hand, flicked the hat off his head, which vanished into the virtual void. "You do. But you haven't answered my other question yet."

"Quite true, my apologies." George cleared his throat nervously. "We believe that two of my crewmates were teleported inside you, and we haven't been able to contact them by audio. We were hoping to open one of your hatchways just now, in order to make sure they were safe and well. One is named Coriolis, a Goblin lady and our first mate, the other is our chaplain, a friendly Elven fellow named Lindauriel. Are they here?"

George was rather surprised to discover what a giant Sun Golem's face would look like if it blushed. "I can tell you with perfect assurance," she said with a mischievous grin, "that both of them are inside me right now, and they're both doing very, very well." She smiled again -- and now George was even more surprised to learn that Sun Golems... had dimples. Attractive ones.

GraveDancer was very grateful for having more than enough processing power to multitask. As she watched herself being lovingly violated by her two newest and dearest friends, as well as feeling the delicious sensations of Cori's fingers deep between her legs, she laughed at another precious memory. That artificer's bemused face, all those centuries ago, when she explained that she not only wanted an anatomically accurate vagina for her custom body -- but a second opening there as well, even though she had no need to eat or excrete. She remembered well how her first pilot had enjoyed such anal dalliances, and was so glad that Lin had no reservations at all about making that centuries-old fantasy come true. So. Very. Glad.

She turned back to George. "They've had a rather long day, and are currently relaxing in my stateroom. I'd rather not disturb them right now -- do I have you to think for the increased flow of solar energy? I was able to initiate some much-needed repairs, thanks to that. VERY kind of you."

George smiled. "We're so very glad for all of that, great lady, and we have more energy to spare, should you need it. However, my captain will be greatly relieved if I can see our crewmates directly. You know how officers can be, I'm sure."

She laughed at that. "I suppose I do. Well, I can understand that you'll be wanting to see your friends again." GraveDancer took a moment to focus on Cori, who was shifting position... ohhh, she could oblige that, most certainly. "Do come inside. I'll power up that airlock with the energy you've given me, it should only take a moment. Oh, and since we're all becoming friends now, do call me Danielle." She removed her hand from George's impromptu entry point. "Next time you want inside me? Just knock, and I'll be waiting." She flashed her fellow Arcane Intelligence a wink, and he sped out back to his own body, an intrigued and thoughtful look on his face.

Danielle looked up from Cori's delicious and dripping folds, enjoying the craftsmanship of her own tongue, and the moans Cori was making as a result of Danielle's amateur efforts. Eyeing the passageway that led to the airlock while Lin made another gasping thrust deep into her ass -- well lubed with Cori's ample juices -- she thought about her options. Should she warn her lovers that their friends had arrived? She grinned, diving face-first back into Cori's crotch. No, perhaps not. This should be fun....

***

"...Aaaand they're inside, Captain. And as expected, audio cut off immediately."

"Thank you, Norrish. It sounded from what George said that the Intelligence seemed cooperative and friendly. I look forward to meeting her."

Norrish chuckled to himself. "George and a Golem, sitting in a tree, k-i-s-s-i-n-g..." He looked up. "Do Arcane Intelligences even have sex drives? Probably right alongside their hard drives, heh."

Captain Liang snorted. "You're the bard of our age, Norrish. To be honest, I have no idea. George has never brought the subject up. For all I know, Arcane Intelligences derive sexual satisfaction from a rousing game of tic-tac-toe."

***

"Uhhhh... hi, guys!" Lindauriel managed an awkward smile and had paused mid-thrust, but that hadn't stopped Danielle from taking it upon herself to keep things moving on her own, thrusting backwards onto his rod as she continued tongue-lashing the speechless Coriolis.

Enrique's face was as red as the Crimson Flame, his eyes as wide as the Endurance's railgun barrel.

Snowdrop was losing a battle to resist laughing her Draconian ass off, fist pounding on the wall as little snorts and chortles fought their way out of her fanged snout.

George looked over Danielle's remote body with professional interest. "Magnificent work. Custom job?

Danielle smiled, her cheeks and teeth glistening with wet Goblin arousal. "And worth every copper I paid for it."

Snowdrop promptly lost it, howling with laughter as she retreated back down the hallway. "MAMMALS! I cloking swear..."

With a bit of careful maneuvering, Danielle disengaged and climbed out of the bed, as two wet washcloths floated out of the wash closet and hovered in front of Lin and Cori. "My apologies, you two. I thought it might be fun to let them walk in on us. Too much?"

Cleaning off his descending length, Lin couldn't help but chuckle. "You are wonderfully dangerous, Danielle."

Cori was already pulling on her unitard, thoughtfully handed to her by George. "You going to be okay, Enrique?"

The youthful human managed a slow nod. "Yeah. Gonna be unpacking this for a few days, though." He shook himself, as if waking up from a trance. "I feel kinda bad for George, though. He meets a new A.I. friend, and she's already hooked up with someone else."

"I'm right here, you little goof." George punched Enrique's arm, though not very hard. "Not the same thing at all, for Arcane Intelligences." He gave Danielle an exaggerated wink. "Besides, there's plenty that I can do that a plain old organic lover can never match. Fractal poetry, stim-file sharing, direct video uploads of kittens..." The two remote bodies shared a smile and a laugh. "Flesh sex-play's not my personal thing, but who am I to judge?"

Danielle slipped her own modesty-unitard back on, aided by the room's unseen-servant system. "So glad to hear that A.I. culture has progressed on that front over the last five centuries."

Cori paused to pull Lin into a brief kiss before turning back to George and Enrique. "Okay, playtime's over. Status report?"

Enrique snapped off a salute, drawing a gentle elbow in his ribs from George. "Audio comms went down the instant we stepped inside this. Norrish and the Captain are back on the ship, trying not to be too worried about you."

As Cori and the others talked, Danielle focused her awareness inward. REPAIR STATUS?

Her "sidekick" interface responded. MAIN REACTOR REASSEMBLY WILL BE COMPLETE IN THIRTY-SIX MINUTES.

Looking over her virtual status board, Danielle noticed that her Detection Countermeasures were still enabled. She turned to face Cori. "My apologies, I didn't realize I was blocking your comms. I'll disable my jamming." In her virtual space, she flipped a switch on her status board, and several audio units in the room started shouting at once.

"...orge? Snow? ANYONE? You need to grab a shuttle and get back here NOW! This is Norrish! Can you hear me? Enrique? We've got Dag Fucking Thurmond on an intercept course! PLEASE FUCKING RESPOND!"

Cori grabbed at her ear, pulling up her zipper. "Norrish, it's Cori! We're here, we're all okay!"

"No we are fucking not! The 'Diamond Ramrod' is less than fifteen minutes out, heading right for us! We need all hands back on deck, right now!"

Danielle touched Lin's wrist as he picked up his enviro-suit. "Ramrod?"

He squeezed her hand. "It's a very big, very nasty ship, run by that guy I mentioned named Dag Thurmond -- who wants us all dead." He blinked. "Wait... Danielle, do you have any combat capability at all right now?"

She shook her head. "Main reactor's still down -- the arcane flywheel is undergoing heavy nano-reconstruction as we speak, and I can't unfuse the asteroid shell to get out without it. Even if I had the reactor back up in time, my main chassis is nowhere near combat-ready. But I'm sending this remote body with you back to your ship, it can handle a fight rather well, and every pair of hands counts, right? Gather everyone close, I've still got plenty of teleport-charges left."

Cori yelled down the hall. "SNOWDROP! GET YOUR TAIL BACK HERE! WE'RE 'PORTING OUT! Dani, our ship is half a kilometer directly above the shell, and there's a big open cargo hold in the back. Can you reach that?"

Danielle smirked. "Absolutely." With a snap of her fingers, everyone onboard the Sun Golem blinked out of reality, and then reappeared inside the Endurance's cargo hold, wobbling slightly from teleport-vertigo, but heading to the bridge at top speed.

Enrique practically jumped into the engineering station's chair, while Coriolis took her usual seat at the Sensors station. Lindauriel sat at Communications, giving Captain Liang a nod. "Sir, we have a... guest."

As both the captain and Norrish turned in their seats, Norrish let out a low whistle of appreciation. "Lady, if I didn't know you were an A.I., I would've sworn you were from the bloodline of Nakasha Naaga herself. The Orcish look suits you." George walked past them, guiding his remote into a wall compartment and shutting it down.

As Snowdrop folded out chairs from the wall for Danielle and herself, Liang turned to face his guest. The Tientang captain inclined his head in greeting. "Please excuse my helmsman, GraveDancer -- and welcome aboard the Endurance. I have a million questions for you, but I'm afraid they'll have to wait until the inevitable shooting stops. Cori, what's the status on Thurmond?"

Already bent over her multiple readouts, Cori blinked in surprise. "Captain, the Ramrod's accelerating at extremely unsafe speeds! They're taking multiple asteroid hits to their shield -- speed still climbing! They'll be in firing range in... three minutes! If they don't get their fool asses killed ramming a rock face-first, that is."

Lin's eyes went wide as his console lit up. "Captain -- we're being hailed by the Ramrod... on an Emergency Distress channel? The fuck?"

"Put it on-screen, chaplain."

The front monitor was suddenly filled with the face of Kallitrix, visibly sweating and shaking. "Endurance, this is the Diamond Ramrod. Under most circumstances, Mister Thurmond would be threatening you right now -- but he's..."

"STOP YAPPING, ELF!" Kallitrix was suddenly shoved aside, and the screen filled with Dag Thurmond's pitted and worn face, his eyes wide with panic. "MOTHERFUCKING GNOMES, YOU SHITBUG! There's the biggest godsdamned DreamNought I've ever seen, right on our asshole! I might want the ship you stole from me back, and I might want you fucking dead -- but NO ONE deserves to get mutilated by Gnomes, not even your clickety-clackety ass, so fire up your engines and get the fuck out of here before they catch any of us! THURMOND OUT! TAMAKI, I THOUGHT I TOLD YOU TO TAKE THE ARCANE DRIVE TO TWO HUNDRED PERCENT, YOU FUCKFACE!"

The video feed cut out, and the bridge was silent with shock, until the captain's voice rang out. "Cori! Get a fix on that DreamNought! Norrish, find us a route out of this belt! Lin, send a broad-spectrum distress alert system-wide! George, bring all weapons on-line!"

As the crew mobilized, a stunned Danielle turned to Snowdrop and whispered. "Gnomes? I thought they were just smaller cousins and allies to the Elves, with a talent for illusions and other mind-tricks?"

Snowdrop shook her white-scaled head in a very emphatic negative. "Short version: seventy years or so ago, a mind-plague swept through 'em like a tidal wave. They're all a swarm of insane genocidal psychic berzerkers now. They think that the galaxy is a sleeping living thing, and we're all just a bad dream that needs to be wiped out so that the galaxy can 'wake up'. We're in deep shit."

"DREAMNOUGHT INCOMING! THIRTY SECONDS TO FIRING RANGE!"

"Lin!" The captain gestured urgently. "Psychic shielding on all of us! Now!"

The elf had already been partway through a chant. "...Let our minds blaze free from corruption, Let our thoughts be our own, Let those who violate be burned to ash!" With an outswept hand, silver left swept the bridge, and everyone's brow was encased in a circlet of divine fire. "All organic minds shielded, Captain."

"Excellent. GraveDancer, my apologies, but we'll come back for your main body as soon as we can. Norrish, get us out of here before--"

HOLD STILL, FIGMENTS. The broadcast flooded over the entire asteroid belt, reverberating through the ship's hull and leaving a painful echo in everyone's ears.

"FUCK!" Norrish slammed his fist down on the arm of his chair. "Telekinetic force-cage just went up from the Gnomes, Captain. One light-minute radius." The screen shifted, and a display went up showing the Endurance, GraveDancer's dormant form in its asteroid shell, the approaching DreamNought, and off to one side, the Diamond Ramrod, all now encased in an enclosed sphere of space. "We don't have anything that can break that wall, sir. I'm sorry."

Cori's hands flew across her control "DreamNought's training weapons on us, Captain! On GraveDancer and the Ramrod as well!"

Lin gritted his teeth. "Sir... the Gnomish ship is hailing us. Audio only."

"George -- just in case, I want you to put our self-destruct on stand-by. I will not let us be taken alive. Acknowledge."

"Acknowledged, sir. It's been an honor."

"...Put it on, chaplain."

FIGMENTS, the speakers wailed. YOU HAVE BROUGHT SOMETHING OLD BACK INTO THE DREAM, A RELIC FROM BEFORE OUR GREAT REVELATION. A MIND THAT DREAMS, BUT HAS NO FLESH FOR US TO PUNISH. FOR THIS, YOU WILL BE PUNISHED BEFORE YOU ARE ERASED FROM THE DREAM. THE GRAVEDANCER MUST BE ERASED FIRST, BUT BE PATIENT -- WE WILL ATTEND TO YOU SHORTLY. EAGERLY. HELLO, FIGMENTS.

As the transmission ended, Lin felt the pit of his stomach go cold. All around him, he saw the faces of his friends tremble with fear, horror, and anger. As if in slow motion, he felt himself stand up, turning towards the captain, hand reaching out...

...Wait. That wasn't his imagination. The world was slowing down. As he watched, the Captain's mandibles froze mid-motion as he called out another order to Enrique... and the world was completely still and silent.

There was a flutter, and a raven landed on the railing near the captain. It turned to look at Lindauriel, and its eyes were pools of silver fire. "In the name of our beloved Queen Of Silence, I would have a moment of your time, Reverend Lindauriel Moonblossom." The bird looked him over, as if to confirm what it saw. "Enshrined Priest. Chaplain. Messenger. Newly beloved. And WarSaint." It nodded in satisfaction. "Know me as Y'shalnacht, herald of Silence."

Lin bowed his head in respect. "Blessings upon you and our Queen, honored herald."

"I bring ill tidings, mortal. There are events unfolding, and the Queen requires your aid. You are the right one, at the right place, and your actions will save many lives -- but know now that you may well suffer for what must be done. We offer our deepest apologies."

"Why? Why must he suffer?"

Lindauriel and the holy raven turned, and Danielle stood there, her remote body shaking with anger, her golden eyes blazing.

Y'shalnacht's wings fluttered. "Most interesting. This one stands outside of fate. Heed our words, Danielle GraveDancer, if you stand with the Queen's priest." He turned back to Lindauriel. "Aboard that dark ship, nine Gnomes are held captive. They have somehow avoided, resisted, the mind-plague that has consumed their once-joyous people. The nine unknowingly hold within themselves the first step towards the redemption of their people. It will not be long before their captivity becomes torture and execution. They must be protected before the plague-touched destroy them in body and spirit. Reverend, your Goddess-given task is to board that ship and rescue those innocents. I say this with a heavy heart, but the survival of those nine must come before all else -- including your friends, loved ones, and even yourself. If the nine die, the galaxy could very well fall into an eternity of pain and destruction that will never end, enveloped by this unnatural plague of insanity."

Lin felt his throat close, and he barely managed a nervous swallow. "I hear your words, honored herald. The will of the Goddess is understood. I'll... I'll find a way."

"A moment, little bird." Priest and ageless Spirit turned, and Danielle held up a hand. "You called him WarSaint. I know well what that means -- My true body was built to be able to fight one, if needed. If he tries to board that ship, clad in his full power, that unleashed Crimson Flame will destroy the ship utterly and all within, and those innocents will die. And if he boards without said power, the Gnomes will swarm and kill him where he stands. So I ask you, herald -- is your Priest permitted to... delegate? I won't let him stand alone."

Lin blinked... and Y'shalnacht opened his beak and laughed. "Indeed. No one is alone. So long as the task is done, the methods -- and the one doing the task -- matter not. Your friend is clever, Moonblossom. And what do you propose, being of gem and thought?"

"You've stopped time to bring us this message. Bring Coriolis and Snowdrop into this hidden moment with us. I'll need them."

The spirit laughed once more. "Done. But hurry, Golem. I cannot hold this frozen time forever."

With a lurch, suddenly Cori and Snowdrop were standing next to Danielle, blinking in shock at no longer sitting where they'd been -- and Danielle grabbed both their wrists. "There's no time, so listen. Lin's just been informed by a divine messenger that there are nine sane Gnomes in that ship, and the galaxy needs them alive. We're going in after them, right now. Get your weapons and armor. MOVE!"

The two warriors looked in surprise at the divine presence before them -- and with a nod, they both ran down the hallway to the ship's armory.

Danielle turned to Lin. "Your job, WarSaint, is to break through that behemoth ship's shields, so I can teleport us in. After that, you hold the line. Protect the Endurance and the Ramrod. Disable the DreamNought's weapons if you can. Just be careful not to fry the lower spinward decks, where the prisoners are... how did I know that?"

The raven flew from the railing and settled on Lin's shoulder. "I placed that knowledge there, and in your two chosen warriors. Reverend Lindauriel Moonblossom, are you prepared to face this task, for the sake of all who live and will come to live in times beyond?"

Overcome with more emotions than he knew how to describe, Lindauriel dropped to one knee, one fist pressed into the steel deck, and once more recited the Queen of Silence's most holy prayer:

"'You Are Not Alone.'

Blessings upon and blessings from,

Youngest of Gods and yet Most Ancient

Coldest and yet most Kind

Silent in all things save for our final moment,

'You Are Not Alone.'

Mother of Winter, Third Sister of Three

All things end, but let it be with mercy

All things die, but let it be without pain.

All things change,

All things strive.

We revere you and your wonders,

We kneel at the hem of your cloak of blades,

We pray for the light of your divine fire,

To cleanse the dead, to give rest to the weary,

To warm the living, to banish the darkness.

But in that final darkness,

May the souls of the newly dead

Hear thy voice:

'You Are Not Alone.'"

Y'shalnacht patted the back of Lin's head with a wing. "It is good that you understand. These are not mere words to you. The cycle of life and death must continue. It is greater than all things, greater than even the Goddess herself who guards it -- and greater than you, who acts as her instrument. The mind-plague-touched must not be allowed to destroy all that is. You are not alone, my priest -- and never have been. It is time."